Benefits of Olive Oil for Hair

by
KAY IRELAND Last Updated: Jan 08, 2014

Kay Ireland

Kay Ireland specializes in health, fitness and lifestyle topics. She is a support worker in the neonatal intensive care and antepartum units of her local hospital and recently became a certified group fitness instructor.

Overview

Olive oil is truly a powerhouse when it comes to hair, skin and beauty applications. Its rich, moisturizing properties make it ideal for use on your hair. While you may immediately think of olive oil for cooking, keeping a bottle of olive oil handy in your bathroom can help your hair look healthier, stronger and shinier. Whether you use it as your regular conditioner, a hot oil treatment or as a hair finishing product, your mane is bound to reap the many benefits of olive oil.

Less Dandruff

Olive oil mixed with lemon juice can help treat problem dandruff. Usually caused by dry, flaky skin, the acidic lemon juice helps loosen dandruff while the olive oil moisturizes the new, exfoliated layer of skin. Mix equal amounts of olive oil, lemon juice and water – a few tablespoons of each should suffice. Massage into damp scalp, leave on for 20 minutes, rinse and shampoo. Use this flake-fighting treatment no more than every other week.

Split Ender

In the dry winter months, your hair is more prone to breakage, splitting and frizzy flyaways that make your sleek haircut look messy and unkempt. A little olive oil can help smooth away some of those problems. It adds weight and moisture to the hair, and is ideal as a quick fix. Just smooth a little olive oil on your fingers and run them through your hair after you've styled it to give your ends and flyaways the kiss off.

Strength and Shine

Replace your regular conditioner with olive oil to help bring moisture back to the hair, leaving it healthy-looking and shiny. Rich in vitamins A, E and antioxidants, olive oil helps protect the keratin in hair and seals in moisture. According to Elle, olive oil can remove the buildup of sebum that impedes the formation of new hair follicles and hinders hair growth.

Manageability

Treating your hair with olive oil will make it easier to style.Photo Credit CandyBoxImages/iStock/Getty Images

Dry, undernourished hair is often hard to style. It won't hold a curl, and straightening only dries it out further, leaving it lifeless. A hot oil treatment featuring olive oil will help you gain manageability so your hair is easier to style, notes PioneerThinking.com contribute Sharon Hopkins. Coat your hair in a half cup of olive oil and leaving for 30 minutes can give your hair the moisture it needs to return it to a more manageable state.

Extra Softness

If you deal with brittle ends or frizzy curls that feel more like steel wool than they do soft locks, olive oil can help soften your hair, making it more pliable. A natural, deep conditioning treatment of olive oil each week can replace the extra silicone ingredients used in conditioners that give your hair a false feeling of softness of for a few hours.

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